I am a beginner badminton player and my partner and I have been getting private coaching from my University's badminton club. So far we've done about 7 x 1-hour lessons and we've become quite proficient in the sport. My coach says my footwork is really good but one of my biggest weaknesses are my smashes. I can never time them correctly. When I smash, the shuttle always hits the net, and when I try to hit it a bit earlier it always becomes a clear. Curiously I find it easier to do jump smash, I can get them just above the net most of the time, jump smash just feels so much more natural to me. My coach says my timing is worse when I smash with the full movement so he has me smashing with only my wrist for now. When I jump smash I do the full motion and it's fine. Is there a trick to learning smashing? I feel like I can never time it correctly. I don't understand why it always hits the net or becomes a clear. I stand in the same position as I would hit a jump smash, and I feel timing is similar to how I hit a jump smash too. I use a Yonex Isometric 65 Lt, BG80P at 24lbs.
Using plastic or feather shuttles? feather shuttles are a bit more consistent. One thing about badminton is that it is easy to start playing, but the fine skills are underappreciated. Try hitting a thousand or two thousand smashes over a couple of weeks. After that practice, you will start to see a bit of improvement.
One to two thousand smashes, that's a lot! I think smashes are the most difficult technique in badminton. I have likely only tried smashing a few hundred times, not succeeding even once. I thought luck would've afforded me at least a few correct shots by now, but nope. Following shuttle with non racket hand is something they teach you during the first lesson, so it's something I always do. We play with feathers only, Aeroplane black label speed 50.
Hi Jackula, My weakness when I first started playing badminton was smashing as well, but in my case I just couldn't get much power into it. Some suggestions for you to take into consideration: -limit the amount of body rotation and practice with half smashes where you can simply just do a little hop and use mostly finger power to hit it down -should take notice the angle of your racket when contacting the shuttle (should be facing down at an angle to hit the shuttle downward) -make sure that the racket face is square with the shuttle during contact and you are not slicing the shuttle ( this was my problem), a simple adjustment in grip can rectify this -make sure you are relaxed as this can make your motion more fluid and help in transfer of power -lastly, practice, practice, practice!
I used to have the same problem as a beginner. It's a good opportunity to train your defense. Anyways, I finally got the timing right after doing lots of dry swings, focusing on the details of the movement (point of contact/angle of racquet face). When I used the smash again in my game, it clicked in just a few games. Try it!
If you want to visualize the skill then I think the coaching videos by Lee Jae Bok is really good and worth watching.
Honestly speaking, a couple of thousand is nothing. I put a low number so as not to discourage you! You need to smash at about 70% strength trying to be aware of your body position and the feeling in your arms. Once you have a consistently decent contact with the shuttle, you can start to adjust things - like getting it over the net. You may have many technique issues so advising you which part to work on will be pretty random unless we have a video.
When we're teaching kids how to smash, we prefer they hit the net than a clear. There's no magic bullet to making your smash time better, just proper form and repetition. Eventually you'll feel that critical point you need to hit at to generate a good smash angle. When I switched to my left hand I had the same issue as @bdmtfreak with slicing and had to turn my racket more square on/pan handle to start with. Nowadays I don't bother because my motion is much better. So yeah start with the absolute most simple method. Stand still, use gentle amounts of body weight, focus on the arm as your coach has told you, and use a more pan handle/straight on grip rather than trying to incorporate pronation for now. You can keep building on it over time. There's a lot of mechanics in the smash.
What kind of smash is your coach trying to get you to do? Mid court or full court? Might be worth incorporating net kills & mid court kills to get you used to the angle you need then start a full swing but low power smash from the mid court. Gradually move back to the full court smash as you get your consistency up.
It sounds to me you are either hitting the shuttle too late or you are using too much of your wrist and that is why its going to the net. While they look similar in form, a clear will have your racket hitting the shuttle at a upward angle and the reverse is for smash. If you are hitting clears when you are intending smashes it can be a few things, such as not getting in position on time and improvising. To be honest, you will need to hit thousands of smashes to get the hang of it, its not something we can describe on a forum adequately. Your body will eventually remember the correct form and timing.
